"Remus, do you have my Arithmancy notes?" Ben asked as he looked under all the books he had spread out around his bed.

"Here," Remus tossed them over, not even looking up from the corresponding book. His nose was practically buried in it. Every time he turned a page, Ben was honestly surprised he didn't get a paper cut on his cheek. "Do you have my set of additional information Newling gave us?" He began to search for the additional notes their professor gave them.

"You gave that to Lily earlier this week. She probably still has it."

"Bugger, I those had the tricks for memorization in it. Do you think James has his copy?"

Ben gave Remus a look of pure disbelief. "You want to know it James has a copy of his notes. Notes he doesn't take. For a class he rarely pays attention to. And you want to ask him the day before April Fool's Day?"

Remus conceded to Ben's point quite quickly. "I see your point."

"I'm right here, you know," James complained from across the room, lounging on his bed. He was flipping through his Quidditch playbook while also simultaneously brainstorming pranks for the next day. Sirius was sitting across from James on the bed, adding his input.

Ursula piped up from Sirius's bed where she and Elyse were going over their Divination notes. "Prongs, are they wrong?"

"No, but it's the principle." He tried to argue.

Peter, fed up with all the noise, snapped and threw his book loudly to the ground, "Will everyone shut up!"

They all jumped and stared at Peter like they had never seen him before. "Merlin, Pete, are you okay?" Ursula questioned.

"No," he snapped. "I'm about to fail all my OWLs while the rest of you are going to pass with Outstandings and I'll just be the idiot you take pity on and allow to be near you! My life depends on these tests!" He shouted, at his wits end. The stress had been slowly building over the last three weeks and he felt like he was ready to blow up.

"Wormy, we're not friends with each other based off intelligence. We're friends because we like spending time with you," Remus tried to calm the agitated boy.

Sirius snorted, "Speak for yourself, mate." At the glares he received, he held his hands up in surrender before going back to flipping through some random notes.

"Ignore Sirius. He's just a wanker." Ben said as he smirked. Ursula laughed causing Ben's smile to grow wider and happier.

"Arse."

"Prat."

"Git," the two boys shot insults back and forth at each other for the next fifteen minutes, occasionally a projectile flew through the air, often times hitting its intended target.

Finally, Ursula had enough and said, "Alright children, time to stop."

"Yeah, please," Elyse said, rubbing her forehead, her face scrunched up in pain.

Immediately, Ursula was concerned and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Elyse, what's wrong?"

Elyse just waved her off, "Just a headache. It feel like teh drums in teh orchestra beatin' away."

"Do you want to go to the hospital wing?" James asked, instantly worried not simply because she's his only seeker, but his dear friend as well.

She shook her head, instantly regretting it when it just caused the pounding in her head to increase. "Nah, I think I'll just go back ter me dorm."

James nodded, "You should probably get some sleep. It'll help with the headache."

Remus perked up, "If Lily's in there, can you ask her to bring over my notes?"

"Sure thing." Elyse got up, stumbling slightly, and quickly put her stuff into her bag. She bid her farewells and went to leave but instead walked into a bed post. Ursula shot up and gripped her arm to keep her balanced.

"I think I should go with you. You're not usually this clumsy," Ursula commented.

"I didn't get a lot o' sleep last night. I'm just tired." Elyse tried to rationalize her out of character behavior.

They boys accepted this and after looking at the clock to see that it was past seven on a Friday, they weren't surprised that the sleep deprivation they were all currently suffering from affected the smallest of the group most.

"Sweet dreams, Lucky," Sirius said absentmindedly as he started doodling a picture of Snape being eaten by a snake.

Soon after Ursula and Elyse left, the boys broke up. Sirius and James left with the cloak, claiming that they had some "Marauder Business" to take care of before morning. Peter, just as exhausted as Elyse, decided to call it an early night. Remus, the Gryffindor Prefect, had rounds to do. Lily had already warned him earlier that day that she wouldn't be able to make rounds since she was up to her ears in potions essays and transfiguration theory and studying for OWLs. She felt bad but after getting dizzy earlier that day, Madame Pomfrey ordered her to miss rounds that night. Ben, not tired and bored, decided to tag along with Remus.

They walked in silence for the first couple corridors, not needing to fill the air with words. Then finally, Remus decided to break the silence and ask, "Who were the letters from this morning from?" Ben had received three letters, all of which he immediately stuffed in his bag, claiming they were going to be late for class.

Ben sighed, "Gideon was just checking up on me. Anna's birthday would be tomorrow and he just wanted to check up with me."

"How old would she be?" Remus asked gently, not wanting to accidentally say something wrong. This was a delicate topic and Ben hadn't been known for being all that stable when dealing with it until recently.

"Twenty-two. She was only twenty-one when she died. In five years I'll be older than my sister," Ben said chuckling humorlessly.

Remus shook his head, unable to imagine that. Annabelle was always so much older than Ben. To imagine that in less than a decade, Ben would technically be older than her. When he was forty, fifty, sixty; his older sister was always going to be twenty-one.

Ben shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "That doesn't matter right now. What does is that my dad wrote me a letter today."

Remus raised his eyebrows in shock. While Mr. White treasured his son and loved him with all his heart, he often didn't write because he knew that his correspondence could be intercepted. "What did he say?"

"He told me that yesterday, Clarke and her sister were found dead. Um, there were three other known werewolves also found on the same day. He wanted me to know to warn you before school gets out because they're not going to release that they were killed because of their lycanthropy."

"Clarke's dead?" Remus couldn't believe that possibly the best Defense professor they ever had was dead.

Ben nodded solemnly. "I don't know how to tell Ursula. They exchange letters once every few months. She'll be crushed."

"You can't keep this from her, you know," Remus said.

"I know. I just need to figure out what to say. There are so many people dying every single day and it's starting to become people we know more and more often."

Remus was about to respond when a shrill scream echoed down the corridor. The duo shared a look, both of them now gripping their wands tightly. Ben reached into his back pocket and pulled out the Marauder's Map. At Remus's questioning glance, Ben muttered, "Nicked it," before whispering the password and searching the map for people near them. Considering it was late and no one was supposed to be out, there weren't a lot of people in the hallways making their search easier.

"It's Olivia Carmichael and Regulus," he said in shock before running off down the corridor with Remus at his heels. They came skidding around the corner only to see Olivia collapsed against the wall, sobbing into her hands hysterically. Regulus was on where to be seen.

Seeing that she was no longer in danger, Ben and Remus both knelt down next to her to check if she was injured.

"Olivia?" Ben asked gently, not wanting to startle the terrified girl.

That didn't work. She jumped and tried to scramble away from the older boys. Both of them held up their hands in a calming matter.

"We're not going to hurt you Olivia," Remus said calmly.

She looked even more terrified. But at least she looked up and met their eyes, "H-h-h-how do you know my name?"

"You're dating Regulus Black, are you not?" When she paled and nodded in shock, Ben continued. "I'm dating his sister, Ursula."

That seemed to calm her down considerably. "You're Benjamin White. You're dad's the Minister for Magic." It wasn't a question. She then looked at Remus, "You must be Remus Lupin then."

He nodded in confirmation, "I am. Olivia, you need to tell us. Did Regulus harm you in any way? We heard you scream."

She shook her head vehemently, unconsciously grabbing her wrists with her opposite hands. Ben saw this and gently, yet forcefully, grabbed her forearm and held up her arms, revealing already forming hand shaped bruises around her wrists.

"This doesn't look like he did nothing." Ben pointed out. "And I would bet this isn't the first time."

"He's never hit me!" Olivia cried, wrenching her wrists away from his grasp. She scrambled to her feet, the two boys doing the same. "He doesn't realize how strong he is sometimes!"

Ben shook his head sadly, "This isn't the first time, is it?"

Her loud sob was answer enough. Remus, his heart going out to the distraught girl, wrapped his arm around her. She sobbed into his shoulder for a good fifteen minutes as the events of what had just transpired processed fully in her mind.

"Olivia," Ben began once she began to calm down. "You shouldn't associate with him anymore. He's not good for you."

"But I love him!" She cried, not wanting to lose the boy she loved.

Remus shook his head, "This is not love."

Olivia shook her head and her eyes hardened as her light green eyes looked into Ben's dark brown, "Does Ursula love her brother?"

Thrown off a bit by the question, Ben nodded so she continued, "I mean both her brothers, Sirius and Regulus."

"Of course she does."

"Has she given up on Regulus?"

Ben knew where this was going and hung his head, "No. And I don't think she ever will."

Olivia straightened her back and regarded the two older boys. "The same goes for me. Until the day I die, I will believe in the goodness in Regulus's heart. No one sees it but he has such a big heart and he loves so completely." She got a faraway look In her eyes. "He's perfect and so kind and gentle and sweet and honorable. From what I understand, he's a fair deal like his sister."

"But he hurt you," Remus said gesturing at her wrists. "That's not acceptable."

Olivia turned back to Ben. "You hurt Ursula, did you not?"

Anger and disgust filled Ben's chest, "I never laid a hand on her." He practically growled.

"What you did was worse. Regulus knew about it and told me. You hurt her heart but she continued to believe in you. Where would you be if she gave up on you? That's why I can't give up on Regulus. He needs someone else fighting for him."

"You do know that we're going to have to tell Ursula about this, right?"

She paled and tightly grabbed one of their hands each, "Please, don't. He may not act like it and her certainly won't admit it out loud, but he loves his sister and doesn't want to disappoint her."

Ben shook his head, "I'm sorry. I can't lie to her."

"Would you want to know this about your sibling?"

Ben stiffened and Olivia gasped, realizing who exactly she was talking to. It may have been over a year ago and she had never even spoken to Annabelle or anyone who knew her, but because her death was first in the war and she was the Minister's pregnant daughter, it made quite the impression on the minds of many.

After a tense moment, Ben nodded tersely. "I would. Because I don't want some false belief of the type of person she was."

"It will hurt her," Olivia desperately tried to rationalize. Ursula couldn't find out about what had happened.

"That may be so. But she will undoubtedly find out later and then be hurt even more."

Before Olivia could try another plea, Remus cut in. "It's past hours. I won't take points from Hufflepuff but go back to your dorm now. Tomorrow, go to the hospital wing to get your injuries tended to. I don't care what lie you feed to Pomfrey, but those will hurt when you wake up tomorrow."

She was silent as she nodded and walked back to her common room with her head hung low. Remus shook his head in disbelief. "Can you imagine Regulus doing that? Ursula'll be furious when she finds out."

"I know," Ben said sadly. He seemed to be greatly bothered by something so Remus questioned it. Ben sighed, it was a blessing and curse to have a friend know you better than yourself sometimes. "How did you forgive me after what I did? Elyse forgave me because she always knew that I'd come back. It took James and Sirius until the attack at Christmas before they stopped glaring at me. I still think Peter hates me. But you just accepted me back. Why?"

Remus was silent as he thought about his answer. "Honestly, I didn't want to lose you as a friend. You understand Ben, that with my condition, friends like you are something I thought I would never have. I never had friends growing up. The first friend I made was Ursula technically, along with the rest of you. And I just can't understand it sometimes. Why would you guys want to be friends with a beast that murders and kills and ruins families? But you guys seem to embrace Moony more than I do. That's why I put up with James and Sirius's antic's all the time; why I don't snap at Peter's stupidity at times; why I never say anything when Ursula loses her temper at someone; why I don't rat out Elyse as a seer. That's why I never said anything about what you did and said to Ursula. I'm too scared to lose any of you."

"Damn, Remus," Ben said in shock. "You know we'll still be friends if you put us in our place when we're out of line."

"You don't know what it's like to go six years without any friends and shunned from society."

"Still, I can't believe that you hold all that stuff back. I would rather hear what you have to say."

Remus gave him a disbelieving look. "Really?"

Ben nodded and then stopped. He braced himself and waved his hands towards himself. "Yeah, you've five minutes. Give it to me. Everything I've done to annoy you, anytime I've been a prick, you let me have it."

"Are you serious?"

Ben gave him an exasperated look, "Seriously? Haven't you figured out which one is which? I'm Ben. Sirius has the black curly hair."

Remus rolled his eyes but did move to stand in front of Ben. He looked at Ben who was looking at him with completely honest and open eyes. "Anything goes?"

"Yup. And I won't hold a single bit against you."

Remus nodded and seemed to consider his words before he said them. Then so quickly Ben didn't realize it in time, he pulled his arm back and socked Ben in the jaw. He went flying backwards, falling on his backside. He sat on the ground, rubbing his jaw, looking at Remus with new found appreciation. "Moony! Where the hell have you been hiding that arm?!"

He didn't answer and instead held his hand down to help his friend stand back up. He pulled Ben back to his feet. "Are you okay?" He asked, worriedly.

Ben nodded, smiling widely. "Never better! I deserved that."

"You sure you're okay?" Remus was already feeling the guilt of punching his best friend.

Ben slung his arm around Remus's shoulder. "Of course I am Moony. I plan to fight Voldemort while being an Auror and an Order member. I think I can handle a punch that I deserved. I did say anything goes."

"Still shouldn't have hit you," Remus said.

Ben rolled his eyes, "Fine. Next time you gave give your dissertation on how much of a prick I can be. Does that sound better?"

"Exponentially," Remus said with an eye roll of his own.

"Why didn't you just rant? You're not the violent type."

"I was thinking of all the things you've done I in the past year and the only thing I wanted to do was punch you," Remus explained. After a pause, he added, "That and I'm tired. Punching you was easier."

Ben laughed and shoved Remus's shoulder good naturedly. They continued rounds in the same manner, joking and messing around. With the end of the year rapidly approaching, a lot of students were trying to get as much sleep as possible. When they finally got back to the Tower, they went up to their room to find James and Sirius collapsed onto of their sheets, already asleep.

Seeing it peeking out from under the pillow, Ben reached out and grabbed the mirror from Sirius's hand. "Ursula Black." He said into it. A few minutes later, Ursula's face appeared. She rubbed her eyes, clearly exhausted.

"Ben? Waz oo wan?" She slurred.

"It's about Regulus. Meet me in the Balcony in a few minutes?"

At the mention of her little brother, Ursula was instantly awake. She nodded. "Is he okay?"

Ben hesitated, "He might not be after you get through with him."

Now confused and worried, Ursula quickly climbed out of bed and said to Ben. "I'll be there in thirty seconds."

With that, she broke the connection. Ben grabbed his broom and after bidding Remus good night, he jumped out of the window and flew to the other side of the Tower. Ursula was standing there with her night robe tied tightly around her to protect her from the cold night air.

"What did he do?" She demanded before his feet touched the stone.

Ben sighed and recounted the story of what happened, watching as Ursula's face grew more and more furious. He almost felt bad for Regulus.

The first day of April was absolutely gorgeous. The birds who nested on Hogwarts grounds chirped out their beautiful songs. A gentle spring breeze swept through the open corridors. The morning dew made the grass look like it was full of diamonds in the early morning sun. A few students had been roused from their sleep but none ventured out of their Common Rooms yet. That is, all except one.

Ursula Black stormed through the hallway, down the stairs, through more corridors, past the potions rooms, until finally stopping in front of the Slytherin portrait hole. Without a moment's hesitation, she shouted the password, "Basilisk!" The wall slid to the side and she stormed into the Common Room, terrifying a group of first years who were awake sitting in their lounge area. None of them seemed to process that she was a Gryffindor that got into their common room. That, or they were too scared to do anything.

She stormed over to the stair case she knew led to the boy's dorm. She climbed until she found the Fourth Years' room. She tried the handle but found that it was locked. Without a second thought, she leaned back and kicked the door in with a deafening bang. All six of the residents of the room, jerked awake.

"Ursula!?" Regulus asked in shock when he saw his Gryffindor sister in his Slytherin room. "How the hell did you get in here?"

She didn't answer. Her nostrils were flared and her mouth was set in a ferocious scowl. She stormed over to his bed and violently yanked him out of his bed. He stumbled to his feet and had no choice but to follow her out of the room. He was just able to grab his dressing robe before being forcefully thrown out of his room. Ursula shoved him down the stairs.

Once at the landing, she grabbed his arm again and yanked him out of the common room and shoved him against the opposite wall.

"What the hell Ursula!" He yelled when she yanked his wrist so suddenly, he was sure he heard a pop.

"Oh, doesn't feel so good to be on the receiving end, huh?" She snarled at him.

Regulus threw his arms up in exasperation, "I have no idea what is going on in your blood-traiter addled brain but you need to get away from me."

"I'm sure that's what Olivia said last night when you grabbed her wrists so tightly you left the imprint of your fingers." She sneered. "What the hell are you doing to her! I sure as hell never thought you would ever raise your hand to a woman!"

"She's not a woman, she's a mudblood."

The crack of her hand hitting his face echoed down the hallway. He was reminded of this scene happening months ago in the tapestry room in Grimmauld Place.

"Do not use that word." She hissed. "You are not like them Reggie. You are better than this."

Regulus laughed sardonically, "You still haven't figured out that I don't need some saving. I chose this life. I am dedicated to this cause that MUDBLOOD Carmichael needed to see that. She's just as pathetic as you."

She shoved him against the wall. In the back of her mind, she wondered when her little brother became taller than her. Considering she hadn't been close to him in just under a year, she hadn't noticed his growth spurt. But that didn't' register with her. At that moment, her emotions were all over the place.

"Regulus. You do not believe this. If you did, you wouldn't have befriended her in the first place. You wouldn't have used accidental magic to try to protect me from Walburga when she got the letter from McGonagall. You're just putting up a façade but I can see through it."

"Like hell you can. You can't even see the obvious. You're on the losing side of this battle. You should feel lucky that Bella has already called dibs on your life otherwise I would love the honor it would give me in the Dark Lord's eyes."

"Dark Lord? Honor?" She questioned in confusion. At Regulus's smug smile, Ursula felt her heart sink into her stomach. "Reggie, please, tell me you didn't." She begged.

"Do what?" He taunted.

He was not expecting her to reach out for his arm and pull his robe sleeve up, revealing the slithering Dark Mark tattooed on his skin. She staggered back at him in revulsion. "Who else?" She questioned in horror, knowing that there had to be more in Slytherin with those marks.

Regulus snorted, "Like I would give away my brothers and sisters to a traitor."

She grabbed the front of his robes and yanked him down to her eye level. "One of my best friends," she began softly and steadily, "spends a great deal of time with a certain Slytherin. Does he or does he not have the Mark on his arm?" She demanded of him.

Regulus was silent and their extremely similar eyes were engaged in a silent duel. Ursula was the one who came out victorious. Regulus dropped his gaze, "You know the answer to that."

She dropped his robes and stepped away from him. "Regulus…" she began, her unfinished sentence clear to her brother. "I'm here for you, always."

He didn't say anything. He simply glared at her and retreated back to his common room. Ursula stood there a moment, processing the Mark she saw on her little brother's arm.

"Sweet Merlin," she groaned as she felt her stomach heave. She ran to the potions room and threw up into the nearest trash bin. Regulus had abused his girlfriend. He had the Dark Mark on his arm. Her sweet, innocent baby brother was a Death Eater.

She had failed.

When James and Sirius sauntered into the Great Hall that morning, their spirits were soaring higher than the Ravenclaws when they figured out a particularly difficult problem.

After sitting down at the table at their friends' sides, they smirked at each other before digging in.

Remus saw their exchange from over the top of his book and looked at them suspiciously. "Don't you two look like the cat that caught the canary," he commented.

"Moony, my friend, you have no idea."

"That's what we're worried about," Ben commented as he munched on his toast. His arm was around Ursula, who looked a little paler than usual but otherwise fine. He offered her a bite of his toast but she held up her hand in rejection.

"Woot did yeh two do?" Elyse asked.

Sirius looked at Elyse oddly. "I told you about this after practice Friday."

Elyse shrugged, "I don't even remember woot I had fer dinner yesterday."

"Just wait for it," James said in anticipation.

Yelps from the hallway outside carried into the Hall. Everyone shared a look of confusion as the yelps suddenly turned into laughter. Everyone quickly scrambled to their feet and rushed to the hallway.

Ursula and Elyse laughed when they saw what James and Sirius had done. The floors were no longer stone. Instead it was a black material with springs near the wall.

"Yeh didn't," Elyse said with a smile as she watched everyone jumping up and down laughing.

"Oh, we did." Sirius and James said together with satisfied smirks. They bumped their fists together, proud of their work. James's smile doubled in size when he saw Lily a little farther away, laughing with Alice as they watched the other students make fools of themselves.

Ben snorted, "You're not the only one who did something."

James and Sirius spun around and looked in confusion. This time, Ben and Remus shared a look before muttering a spell and pointing their wands at the stairs. Suddenly, the outside edges of the stairs turned into slides, the middle remaining the usual staircase.

"How the hell did you figure out how to do that?" Sirius demanded.

"A Marauder never reveals his secrets," Ben said mysteriously, barely able to be heard over the laughter and chaos that surrounded them.

The rest of the day was spent in a similar manner. Someone spiked the teacher's drinks at breakfast so that when classes started, all their voices sounded like they sucked on helium. No one would fess up to it but when the Divination teacher had to go to the hospital wing because his voice had completely disappeared, it was impossible for Elyse to hide her smirk.

The teachers tried to be annoyed and stern about the shenanigans but seeing their stressed students laughing and looking like they weren't about to have a mental breakdown, they couldn't help but laugh at the pranks themselves. McGonagall seemed to figure out who was behind it, giving the seven of them an inordinate amount of points in transfiguration for answering simple questions properly.

Ursula was glad for the distraction. After her morning encounter with her brother, this was exactly what she needed. OWLs may be right around the corner, her brother may be a Death Eater, her pseudo-father was dying, and her own cousin had a hit out on her but at that moment, sitting at lunch holding onto Ben's hand under the table, listening to James and Sirius explain how they pulled off their prank, she felt like everything would be fine.

There you go! I decided to leave the author's note on the bottom this time because I don't really have much to say. I will say that if you have Pottermore, you need to go check that out because they give the full background on Remus and I nearly cried reading it. I am going to have to fix bits of my story now that his past is much clearer but for the most part, the main part of my story still fits into canon. There was a little hint about what is up with Elyse's vision in this chapter, even though there is no vision. Also, I think there is going to only be one more chapter. Um...oh, yeah. I am going to be doing a oneshot, or series of oneshots, about Olivia and Regulus and their relationship from the very beginning to the end. I don't know when it will be published but probably eventually...one day...maybe before Christmas. Sorry, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update since I will be leaving for college in about a month. Who knows. I might have more or less time depending on classes and stuff.

Anywho, you guys only need six more reviews before you get the sneak peek for the Doctor Who that has yet to be named! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, read, favorited, or alerted. You are all wonderful people and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!